Onward Support Team Volunteer - Legal Access Department

This is an exciting opportunity to work as part of a team to support the vital work of the Legal Access Department at Care4Calais, responding to the various needs of the hundreds of refugees we support through the difficult process of claiming asylum in the UK.

Our Legal Access Team assists asylum seekers in navigating the UK asylum process by finding them specialist solicitors and working with our volunteer interpreters to help them organise their paperwork.  

Our Onward Support Team is critical to this work, ensuring that our clients receive the best standard from the moment they enter our support service, to the moment they leave.

As a member of our Onward Support Team you will be responsible for the long term support of the Legal Access Team's client base, ensuring they have regular check ins, signposting, and all the holistic support they need to succeed at life in the UK. This support includes preparing for interviews, assisting with appointments, emotional support and signposting to local organisations to support integration into the community. 

We are looking for people who have a genuine passion for human rights and refugee protection. If this is you, please get in touch.

Responsibilities 

• Attend induction, ongoing training and keep up to date with resources and procedure to ensure you can carry out the role effectively and efficiently.
• Able to work independently and manage your time effectively
• Supporting asylum seekers with a range of tasks including onwards referrals, signposting, emotional support
• Supporting Legal Access Team caseworkers to provide wraparound care
• Maintaining and updating client records
• Sorting client paperwork
• Attend regular team meetings and contribute effectively
• Following safeguarding procedures and reporting safeguarding incidents appropriately
• Maintaining communication with the management team throughout your role, available for regular check-ins to ensure the best service is provided to our clients.
• Liaising with other professionals including local services and Migrant Help

Person Specification

• Organised and accurate with information, with an eye for detail. 
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to communicate with people who do not have English as their first language, working alongside interpreters to ensure clients understand the process
• An understanding of the traumatic experiences that our clients have been through and the emotional resilience to cope with this
• Professional and dedicated to ensure that the best interests of the clients and Care4Calais are represented at all time
• Ability to use spreadsheets, Google Workspace, messaging platforms and secure databases.

Desirable Criteria:

• Proficiency in one or more of the languages spoken within asylum seeking communities, such as but not limited to: Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Dari, Kurdish Sorani, Tigrinya, Amharic.

Care4Calais is dedicated to cultivating a diverse and inclusive work environment and recognises that this is invaluable to our ability to serve the communities we support. 

We therefore welcome and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds including from Black, Asian and Minority-Ethnic communities, people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, and people with lived experience of the UK immigration system.